This is a very special piece of my childhood history. The Beetle pictured in this post was my uncles toy originally. After he grew out of it he handed it on to me. After a few years when he started a family I guess he wanted it back to pass down to his kids. Not sure why but after 30 plus years he just recently decided to give it back to me. This time it’s not going back!!! In a strange kind of cosmic type thing I was talking about this car with Philip on IG a few days prior to finding out I was getting it back. Spooky.
Anyway enough about me. Check out this amazing bit of Japanese pressed metal in the shape of a VW Beetle. Back in the 70's when I first got the keys to this its condition was a lot better, when I handed it back I had damaged the roof but that’s all I remember as far as my damage on the car. Not sure who’s been having fun with it since I saw it last but it’s looking a very ‘well loved’ these days.
The car was made by Bandai in the 1960's and is pretty well proportioned. The body is one piece of metal which is amazing when you give it a good looking over. The lines are very well done and the area under the roof gutter is particularly well formed and had me looking to see if there was in fact a join. There’s not.
Sadly it’s no longer functional but back in the day it was powered by 3x ‘D’ cell batteries. It would drive along and randomly stop, back up, turn etc. It’s head lights lit up and another globe would shine light through the clear engine block. As soon as I finish this post I’m taking it apart to find the fault and repair it. My bet is its a broken wire, not much else it can be really.
The engine itself was a source of wonder for a smaller me, it had 4 working pistons and a small pulley. The pulley didn’t run anything but it spun around and with the moving Pistons was enough to entertain me for hours. The other great feature about the engine was you can remove it and spin it over by hand with the crank.
Thanks for coming down memory lane with me.